T.S. Eliot once referred to April as the ‘cruelest month’, but for many MBA applicants, that month is February. February, that blessed/accursed time of year when some applicants are celebrating their Round 2 admits, and others are curling up in little balls, wondering how things went so horribly wrong.

Obviously, the happy ones don’t need to read this blog, because they already know exactly where they’re going and what they’re going to be doing next year. But if you’re in that other camp – then this one is most definitely for you.

Ok, now that you’re a little calmer, and ready to take on this process in a powerful, professional way –

Take stock.What are your options?Do you have interviews still pending?Are you waiting on some decisions to come down?Have you been waitlisted at some of your target schools?List every result of your application other than a ding on a nice clean sheet of paper (if you’re into the whole ‘pen’ thing).

Adding to the list.In addition to all of your pending opportunities, you have a few more options; round 3, rolling and European late rounds (which for simplicity’s sake I’m treating as a single entity, even though that encompasses a whole range of possibilities), and strengthening your application and re-applying next year.Of course, you also have the option of doing specialty programs such as MM and MFin, but that’s a whole other ball of wax, and beyond the scope of this humble blog.

So what are the pros and cons of your various options?

Waitlist.The waitlist is your bird in the hand – your last, best chance of getting into a target school this year.Assuming you have already maximized your odds, there’s nothing more you can do except, well, wait.The pros are obvious – if you get in, your troubles are over.The con is that a waitlist can breed complacency.You can’t afford to just sit back and hope things work out – you have to be proactive!So waitlists are great, as far as they go, but don’t get hung up on them.

Admits from safety programs. Congratulations, your safety net paid off, and you have been accepted by one of the schools you applied to.Should you attend?If you did this process the right way, you only applied to schools you had a very good feeling about, so I’m going to assume that you like the program in question.So the choice ultimately comes down to cost/benefit.How expensive is the program?What are students doing after graduating – are they entering the fields and careers that interest you?Are you communicating with alums and current students?Do they seem friendly and eager to help you out?How big is your appetite for risk, and how well do you like your current job?These are some of the questions you’re going to need to answer before you can decide how to respond.

Round 3/European/Rolling.Even in February, there are a range of schools you can apply to, including schools with late round 3 deadlines, European schools with year-round deadlines, and schools with rolling admissions.This can be a good option if your safeties didn’t come through, or if you feel better about some of these schools than your safety school.But it is expensive and time-consuming to apply, and at such a late date, all of these applications are going to be long-shots, even for schools you’re a pretty good match for otherwise – their classes are going to be mostly full by now.

Waiting a year.If you’re on the young end (23-26) of MBA admissions, if you’ve recently been promoted or are expecting a promotion, if you like your current job, or if your appetite for risk/reward is high, then waiting may be your most appealing option.MBA programs look favorably on reapplicants – IF they have taken concrete steps to strengthen their candidacies in the intervening year(s).Promotions, increased responsibility at work, taking on more and better extracurriculars, retaking the GMAT or GRE, and taking satellite/extension courses on key mathematical and financial topics can all make you a more appealing applicant the second time around, as can networking and getting to know more people at your target schools.This is the high-achiever, high-effort option, but hey, if you want to go for the gold, this is how it happens.

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So there you are – no matter what results you’re looking at right now, you have a wide array of options remaining for you.So don’t get downhearted – get motivated.Nodoby said this was gonna be easy.And if you want more personalized feedback on why you were dinged or how you can improve your candidacy, contact us!